A blog exploring Eberron, all aspects of 4ed Dungeons and Dragons, and gaming in general.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Crossover! Archetypes vs. Kingdom Building

The Archetypes were my invention from before I even managed to have PCs for this game or have any clue who they'd be. Kingdom Building was my invention to make sure my PCs would maintain momentum during down times in the campaign and let them avoid going their own ways in sessions, getting the game off-track, but still achieving personal character-defining goals. When it came time to actually execute Kingdom Building, I realized that, for this part of the game to truly reflect the PCs I had beyond their trained skills, I needed to give them abilities that came into play during Kingdom Building. I decided to tie these abilities in with the Archetype the had chosen. Each Archetype represents a particular role at court, and each role at court should be able to influence the world in a different way.

I feel like the levels ending in 4 and 8 are pretty dead throughout a character's life. Sure, you get ability boosts (boring math bonus) and and a feat (which you could have taken at a number of other levels). Inspired by Character Themes, I decided to give Archetype special abilities that would help in Kingdom Building at level 4 and 8. I thought about continuing to add abilities into higher tiers, but realized that it might be fun to introduce something like "Paragon Kingdom Building Paths" that PCs could take in addition to their normal Paragon Path to make them better Kingdom Builders in Paragon Tier. I might do something more in Epic tier.

So, here I present each Archetype's Level 4 Kingdom Building power. They each key off of the expenditure of an Action Point during Kingdom building.

Prince Oargev: Level 4:Royal Influence: You are one of the most powerful men in the country, so when you put your full support behind something, it has a much greater chance of getting done. You may spend an action point to improve the results of one of your ally’s single Pursue a policy or Support a policy action from this round instead of taking an extra action. If the ally earned a failure on his skill check, then that failure is erased. If he earned a moderate success, then it becomes a major success. You may choose to spend this action point after results are known.Cyran Patriot:

Level 4:Support of the Commons: Because the commoners of Cyre know you are one of them, they trust that whatever you do is for their own good. When you really need to, you can find plenty of help in nearly any task. When you spend an action point during a kingdom building round, in addition to gaining an extra action, you gain a +2 bonus on all skill checks you make until the end of the round related to Domestic policies.

Cyran Noble: Level 4:Courtly Eloquence: You have grown up learning the skills you need to fit in with any court in the world. Your polish and charm grant you a certain gravity in all of your social interactions. You gain a +5 bonus to any Charisma skill check you make during the action granted by spending an action point.

Warforged Servant:

Level 4:Tireless Support: You have minimal need for rest and can tirelessly pursue your master’s commands. When you spend an action point you may choose to gain two bonus minor actions instead of a bonus standard action.

Dragonmarked Scion:

Level 4:House Resources. Your Dragonmarked House offers great resources in a specific field. Whenever you successfully pursue or support a policy during an action granted by an action point using the skill your dragonmark confers a bonus to, you earn double successes. If you fail, your failure does not count.

Foreign National:

Level 4:Worldly: You have travelled extensively and have a broad view of how different nations interact with each other. When you spend an action point during a kingdom building round, you gain a +2 bonus on all skill checks you make until the end of the round related to Foreign policies.

Sovereign Priest:

Level 4: Religious Resources: There are churches of the Sovereign Host everywhere, and the amount of knowledge they have collected on religions of the world is staggering. Whenever you successfully pursue or support a policy during an action granted by an action point using Religion, you earn double successes. If you fail, your failure does not count.

Druidic Initiate: Level 4:Ancient Secrets: The druids have ancient knowledge on all matter of portals, creatures, and histories which they can access in times of need. During Kingdom Building, you gain a +5 bonus to any Knowledge skill check you make during the action granted by spending an action point.